Courage and Light
by Fruitloop Trooper
Summary: Tai's up late, thinking about his sister. (Complete)
1. Default Chapter Title

Courage and Light. 

Author's note: I wrote this because I haven't seen too many Tai and Kari stories. I figured after the new episode would be the perfect time. Also, I wanted to expand on my theory of why Tai's acting so cold. It happens between "Enter the Dark Masters" and "Sea-sick and Tired." Enjoy. 

Part 1: 

His mother stood sobbing. "What were you thinking? You knew she was sick!" 

He placed a hand on the newly formed mark on his cheek. It hurt, but he was too out of it to notice. Indeed, pressing his hand against it was pure reflex. 

And now," she sobbed, "And now your little sister may die because of you!" 

Tai quickly woke up, sweat pouring down his face. He panted as he placed his hand against his chest, as if to keep his rapidly beating heart safely inside. 

"Tai?" he heard a voice ask. 

He turned around. "What are you doing up, Matt?" 

"It was my turn for watch, remember?" 

"Oh yeah," Tai said, lying back down. 

"Are you okay?" 

"Yeah," Tai lied. "It was...just a bad dream!" 

"Do you want to talk about it?" 

Tai wanted to, but he couldn't. Matt would hate him, and so would everyone else. "No, no I'm okay now." 

Matt looked at Joe's watch. "Well, your shift begins in an half-an-hour. As long as you're awake..." 

"Huh? Oh yeah! Good night!" 

"' Night." 

Tai sat up and leaned against the tree. As always, his mind started to race. It was the same dream for the past couple of nights. He thought he had gotten over that, so why was it happening now? Why now, when the others were counting on him the most? 

He knew why. It was because his sister was with him now. It was just his subconscience reminding him of what a horrible big brother he was. 

He looked over at the others. None of them except maybe for Matt, would understand, but how do you tell someone you almost killed your little sister? 

He heard Kari cough. He turned to her, his heart pounding again. "Please?" he wispered, "Please, don't let it happen, not now!" 

He breathed a sigh of relief when he saw that she coughed because she inhaled some of Gatomon's fur. Good! She wasn't getting sick again! It was an ongoing cycle. Kari would get sick, recover, and then get sick again. She had a weak immune system, and it was his entire fault. Even though she was okay, he stayed by her side for the rest of the night. 

To be continued 


	2. Default Chapter Title

Part 2 The next morning, after eating breakfast, they started walking across the shore line. Tai kept looking over his back to Kari. She was fine, but he was still worried. "Is something wrong, Tai?" Sora asked, walking up to him. "Uh, no!" he said, turning back, "Everything's fine." 

"Tai," Sora said,"I know you, Something's bothering you, big time! Does it have anything to do with the dream you had last night?" 

"Matt told you?" he asked, a little surprised. 

"Yeah," Sora said,"He was worried about you." "Well, I'm fine," he said. 

She was about to ask him something else, when Mimi suddenly cried out "Ah!" 

"Its Metalseadramon!" Tentomon said. 

"Digivolve Agumon!" Tai ordered. 

"You too, Gabumon." Matt said. 

"Agumon warpdigivolve to Wargreymon!" 

"Gabumon warp digivolve to Metalgarurumon!" "Terra Force!" 

"Ice Wolf Claw!" 

Metalseadramon dogged their attacks. "River of Power!" He yelled, attacking the ground. The earth below them was ripped apart and tossed everyone around like rag dolls. 

"Kari!" 

Tai opened his eyes slowly. He was laying on his back on a pile of dirt. He saw Koromon a few feet from him, asleep, and Matt and T.K. talking a few feet away also. Ignoring the pain in his legs, he stood up. His heart began to race. Where was Kari? He started to run across the landscape. "Kari!" 

"Tai!" Koromon said, bouncing over to him. "You can't move yet!" 

"No!" Tai said, limping," I need to find Kari!" 

"Tai,"Matt said,"You can't move anywhere yet. You can't help Kari if you're hurt!" 

"Yeah," Tai said, sitting down. He started sobbing. "You're right." 

"Oh man!" Matt thought,"Tai really does have a heart." 

"Its my fault," Tai said,"I should have been next to her. Then she wouldn't be off by herself." 

"Tai,"Matt said, sitting next to him,"Remember when we were fighting Devimon and he separated us?" 

Tai nodded. 

"You told me you knew how I felt about T.K. I said you didn't. Well, I would like to apologize! you do know how I feel." 

Tai shook his head. "You don't know how I feel! You just are worried because T.K. can be captured by someone else, you didn't nearly kill him!" 

"What? Tai, is there something you want to tell me?" 

Tai finally told Matt about what happened between him and Kari. "Tai," Matt stuttered,"I...I had no idea!" 

Tai looked up at him. "Do you hate me?" 

"Of course not!" Matt said. "But you're right, I can only imagine what you must be feeling!" 

"I feel like crap!" Tai said,"How could I have been so selfish? I wanted to play soccer, so I didn't care that Kari was sick! How could I have done that?" 

Matt wasn't sure what to do. Tai was getting more and more depressed. "Tai, this is only the second time I've seen you cry. You really love your sister, huh?" 

Tai sniffled. "Of course I do, but...she hates me! I'm a horrible big brother! 

"She does not!" T.K. said, suddenly becoming vocal. "Kari looks up to you so much! She can't stop saying how your the best big brother in the world! That's what she told me! She wants to be just like you!" 

"...and nearly kill someone she loves more than anything!" Tai bawled. 

"Tai, I've never seen you act like this," Matt said,"Its like your heart...its softened!" 

"That's what my psychiatrist said. She said subconsciously, I act cold because if I give in to my feelings, I'll go back to the feelings I had that day in the hospital!" 

"So that's way!" Matt thought. "Poor Tai." Outloud he said,"Tai...maybe you should get some sleep. Tomorrow we'll get a stretcher or something and we'll search for Kari, okay?" 

"O-Okay," Tai said, laying down. 

Matt stared at him as he closed his eyes. "I may not have nearly killed T.K., but I do know what its like to think your the worst brother in the world. I'll do what it takes to find Kari, and help you two. I promise!" 

to be continued... 


	3. Default Chapter Title

Part 3: 

Kari slowly opened her eyes. "She's awake!" she heard a voice say. 

Sitting totally up, she saw that she had been lying in a makeshift bed of leaves. There was a roaring fire in front of her, and the other kids sitting around it. "You're awake!" Sora cried. 

"Where's Tai?" Kari asked. 

"We...we don't know," Izzy said,"T.K. and Matt are missing too." 

Sora rushed over to her, but Joe pushed her aside. "Easy," he said to her. Turning to Kari he said,"Does anything hurt?" 

"Yeah!" Kari said,"Its my right leg, it hurts really, really bad," 

Joe gently touched it. Kari cringed back in pain. "Ouch!" 

"Sorry!" he said,"I've got to find what's wrong with it, so if I hurt you, I'm sorry, okay?" 

"Sure," Kari said, cheerfully,"I know its not your fault." 

Joe smiled and nodded. "Good, now, tell me if this hurts," he said, touching Kari on the bottom part of her leg. 

"Yes, but just a little," she said flatly, while inside she was cringing with incredible pain. She wanted to cry so hard, but she wouldn't. "Tai wouldn't cry!" she thought to herself."Tai never cries! No matter how bad things are, Tai is strong!" 

"Okay," Joe said," You have a broken leg." 

"How can we help her?" Mimi asked. 

"First we need to make a cast. Get me some flat pieces of wood, and some vines!" 

They nodded and scrambled around. In a few minutes they had created a cast of two pieces of wood to keep her leg straight, and vines to tie them together. 

"Great," Joe said, admiring their handy work. "Now what do we do?" 

"I think we'd better find the others," Sora said. 

"How?" Biyomon asked. 

"I think I have a way," Izzy said," By connecting my digivice to my laptop, and calling up a map of the digiworld, I can pinpoint their exact location....Bingo!" 

Izzy was staring at a map with three flashing dots on it. "Perfect! They're all together! If they don't move further away, we should be there within a day! Two at the most!" 

"How's Kari going to get there?" Gatomon asked. 

"Someone got's to carry her," Joe said. 

"I'll do it!" Sora suddenly spoke up. 

"Are you sure?" Joe asked. "I'm stronger and.." 

"No, I'm sure," Sora said, walking over to her. "Come on, " she said, putting her back to her,"You get a piggy back ride!" 

Kari grabbed Sora's neck and pulled herself up. "Okay," Sora said," we're ready." 

They walked until sundown. Sora had first watch, but Kari wasn't sleeping too good because of her leg. So after everyone else had fallen asleep, they started to talk. 

"Sora, thanks for helping me today." Kari said. 

"That's okay," Sora said, taking off her helmet. "Tai would kill me if anything happened to you." 

"No, he wouldn't," Kari said, matter-of-factly. 

"Yes, he would! I've know you two the longest out of everyone here. Remember the day we first met?" 

"Not really," Kari said. 

"Well, anyway, since then you've been like the little sister I've never had, but we're talking about Tai here, aren't we? He wouldn't want anything to happen to you, and since I've known you the longest, he'd take it out on me! But I don't blame him. I guess that what it means to be a big brother." 

"I hope he's all right." 

"You really care about him, don't you?" 

"Yeah, ouch!" 

"Kari, I know your leg hurts, so why don't you say so." 

"Because Tai wouldn't cry about it! He'd wouldn't let it get to him!" 

Sora was about to argue that, but then she realized that she had never seen Tai cry before. She only heard rumors that the only time he cried was when she was taken prisoner by Datamon. In fact, he ever since she met him, he always acted that way, really cold. "Kari, was Tai always like that?" 

Kari thought for a moment. "No, when I came home from the hospital, I noticed that change in him. It was like something died inside of him when I almost did." 

"Didn't he bring you outside when you were really sick?" Sora asked. 

Kari nodded. "But it wasn't his fault. He blamed himself so much that he cried! I went because I wanted to, not because he forced me too." Sora nodded. "You really love him, don't you?" 

"Yeah! He's the best brother in the world!" 

Sora smiled. "He cried for Kari...and me? We must be pretty special people to him." 

Kari yawn. "I think you must be feeling sleepy, now." Sora chuckled. 

"Yeah, good night." 

to be continued... 


	4. Default Chapter Title

Part 4 

Morning dawned over the horizon, but Matt and the others were up well before that. Tai had insisted that his digivice got a weak reading from the others in the middle of the night and wanted to get moving. Matt was surprised at how concerned he was for his little sister. 

Tai was running at a fevered pace, while Matt, T.K. and their digimon tried to keep up. Suddenly T.K. tried, landing on a sharp rock. "T.K.," Matt said, "Are you okay?" 

Before he could answer Tai yelled at them. "Come on! We have to keep going!" 

Matt had put up with him all morning and he couldn't take it anymore. "Tai," he said, annoyed,"If you keep running and pushing yourself, you won't be able to help Kari! I know how you feel!" 

Those words made Tai realize what he was doing. "I'm treating him like he treated me!" he thought to himself. "Matt, I'm...I'm sorry." 

He walked over to Tai and patted him on the back. "We'll find her. Don't worry." 

As if on cue, the bushes started to rumble and shake, and a second later, Gatomon jumped out. "Tai!" she cried. 

"Gatomon!" he said, running over,"Where's Kari?" 

"She's coming, Sora had to carry her." 

Tai felt a pain in his heart. "Why did she have to carry her?" 

"She got a broken leg." 

Tai hung his head low. Matt knew what was about to happen. "Here it comes." 

"Its my fault," Tai said,"If I had been there, she wouldn't.." 

"You don't know that, Tai," Matt said, trying to comfort him," Metalseadramon through us around like rag dolls! There was nothing you cold have done." 

"I'm her brother, I should have done something." 

"Tai!" 

Looking up he saw the others walking towards them, Sora huffing and puffing with Kari on her back. 

"Tai!" she cried again. 

"Kari!" Tai said, picking his little sister up and hugging her. "What happened?" 

"I got a broken leg. I'll be all right though." 

"Yeah," he said,"Sora, I'll take her for now okay?" 

Sora wiped the sweat of her forehead. "Sure," she panted. "Well," Izzy said,"Where are we going?" 

"We have to make it up to the top of Spiral Mountain.' Tai said,"You know that!" 

Kari grabed Tai's neck and hung onto him even tighter than she did with Sora. "Let's go then." 

They walked for a few more hours, until Tai decided that it was time to camp out for the night. After everyone had gone to sleep, Matt and Tai were talking. "Are you okay?" he asked him. 

Tai was staring at the sleeping form of his younger sister. "I was just noticing how much she looks like me." 

"She acts a lot like you too!" Sora said. 

"I'm sorry, did we wake you?" 

"Not really," she said, stretching. 

"What do you mean she acts like him?" Matt asked,"She's the complete opposite of him!" 

"I mean with stuff like hiding what she's feeling at times. Earlier when Joe was examing her, I could tell by the look in her eyes that she was ready to cry, but didn't. She was obviously trying to be like you, Tai." 

"Why?" Tai asked,"Why would she want to be a cold-hearted jerk like me?" 

"Now you're being hard on yourself!" Sora said,"You are not a....jerk." 

"Why would she want to be just like me?" 

"Its obvious," Matt said,"She looks up to you. Its what younger siblings do." 

"But I almost killed her." 

"And she forgave you!" Sora said. She was desperately trying to get through to him. 

"Okay, fine, but what about all those others time I wasn't there for her!" 

"What other times?" 

"I wasn't there for her birthday.. Mom said she was crying in her room for the entire party. Of course, when I got home she said she wasn't upset, but.... And the time when I was supposed to take her shopping, but I didn't, so she went with mom. She was really looking forward to that! And if I had stayed by her when Myotismon was attacking the city, she wouldn't have gotten captured!" 

"Tai," Matt said,"She gave herself up to save us, just like you would have!" 

"Tai," Sora said,"I was with you when you couldn't get to Kari's birthday, we were stuck in traffic, remember? And when you were supposed to take her shopping, didn't you get the Chicken Pox? Tai, you're beating yourself up over things that weren't your fault!" 

Tai sniffled. "You're right. I'll..I'll be okay, get some sleep." "I have first watch, remember?" Matt said. 

"Oh, right." Tai layed down next to his sister. "Kari," he wispered,"I'll be here for you now, for now on, I promise!" 

THE END 


End file.
